Today is the third year that I signed up for this race, and I was worried that Hurricane Arthur would cancel it!
When I woke up, it was very cloudy, but no rain yet, so I got dressed and made the quick drive to Wall Township for the race. I woke up with a headache and pretty much every muscle I have was screaming from boot camp, so I was not optimistic!
I got my bib and tee and went back to the car to pin on my bib and take a selfie:
Not too bad, right? I had almost thirty minutes until the start so I started walking around to stretch out my legs. At fifteen minutes before the start, I started walking over to the start, just in time for the rain to begin.
Oh joy!
Nothing to do but run in the rain!
In the past two races, it has been super hot and humid, so this was a nice change! I was soaked through in the first mile, but it felt nice. At the second mile, my little iPod shuffle made a loud screeching sound and then quit. Yay.
Running without tunes definitely slowed me down a little! At mile three the rain stopped and we got serenaded by Dave the Trumpeter. He even played Happy Birthday for America!!
Mile four was the hardest! It got a little hot at times, and the hills were insane! It was definitely my longest mile, but the breeze picked up which made it easier!
One last big hill and a quarter mile and I was approaching the finish! Hooray!
My first year it took just over an hour. Last year I finished in 57:35.
This year, like I said, I was not optimistic. I finished in 57:44! I wish I had looked up last year's time before the race! I would have pushed harder!
I am so happy with my time, though, and loved getting my "bling".
The men got little flags. I stayed after to watch my little friend Rachel get her age group trophy, and then headed home to rest my poor head!
It still aches. Darn hurricane.
Did you race today, or plan to race this weekend?
Awesome run girl! I actually like running in a light rain.
ReplyDeleteLove your skirt, I have the same one!
thank you!!! The rain wasn't too terrible, although it killed my iPod, which sucked!
DeleteYup, same here! Thought the rain was going to ruin my "Firecracker 4" -- fortunately we just got a few sprinkles and it passed pretty quickly. I'm definitely not complaining, though -- anything is better than last year's INSANE heat! I always end up with pretty much the exact same time on my 4th of July race. At first I was upset not to see improvement, but now I just blame the heat and humidity...my body just doesn't want to cooperate, simple as that, haha.
ReplyDeletemy friends did the Four, and bragged about the lack of rain lol and humidity sucks the life out of every run!
Delete